The Freedom To Fly
by McGonagall's Bola
Summary: Aurora wanted to know how it felt to fly, to have wings of her own. She wanted to feel the freedom she thought her Fairy Godmother must feel when she tumbled through the air.


"What's on your mind, Beastie?" Maleficent asked before she took another bite from her shiny red apple, eyebrow quirked as she rested her body between the lower branches of one of the larger green trees in the Moors as she saw a crease upon Aurora's forehead as she lay on her back in the grass below her, the sunlight upon her skin, also making her hair look as if spun by gold.

Aurora's eyes opened and she turned her head to look at the fairy with the horns who could always tell when there was something on her mind. "How do you know me so well?" she asked.

"How could I not?" Maleficent asked. "I've known you since you were a baby. Always, it has been incredibly clear to me when something is bothering you."

Sitting up and leaning back on her hands, Aurora looked up at her Fairy Godmother intently. "I know. Unlike my aunts, I could never fool you no matter what."

"Why would you ever wish to fool me to begin with, Beastie?" Maleficent asked as she threw the core of her apple away without caring very much where it ended up, and she pushed off of the lower branches, her wings opening barely to make sure she landed softly, her wings folding back on her back again as she stood beside her godchild. Essentially, she was not her godmother, but she had grown attached to the child, and perhaps she had played that role better than anyone else, too. The child's aunts hadn't particularly had a much talent for parenting, and more than once, Maleficent had had to save Aurora from getting killed due to one of their mistakes.

Aurora's blue depths fastened upon the large wings attached to her godmother's shoulders. Ever since she had found them in the castle, furiously flapping and wanting to go back to their owner, she had been mesmerized by how large they really were, and especially after having seen her godmother with them and the things she could do with them, she had wondered a great many times what it would be like to fly on her own. She had never dared to ask. Diaval knew what it was like to fly, as did her godmother, and even her aunts did as well… but she didn't, and whenever sixteen-year-old Aurora witnessed Diaval or her godmother slide through the air so seemingly effortlessly, she was very jealous.

Maleficent didn't fail to notice how Aurora's eyes again rested upon her wings. It wasn't the very first time that she had caught her gazing at them that way, but she wasn't certain as to why. Was Aurora afraid of her wings? She figured that her Beastie would tell her whenever she was ready. However, when it was so obviously bothering the beautiful girl, she could not resist asking. She only wanted to help and hoped her and showing her interest regarding Aurora's feelings would coax her to tell Maleficent what was bothering her so.

"I wish I could fly, too, Fairy Godmother," Aurora whispered and looked down, pulling her knees up and resting both of her arms on them.

Oh. That was not entirely what Maleficent had been expecting at all. "Why's that?" she asked.

"I see you and Diaval fly high in the sky every day, and I wish that, for once, I knew what it felt like. I reckon it gives you this great freedom to tumble through the air and feel the wind and smell the air as you fly through it, and…" she began, and her smile grew wider as she told her godmother what she thought it could feel like to fly, before she stopped and saddened once again. Her Fairy Godmother would never let her have her own wings anyway.

"I will not give you your own wings," Maleficent confirmed. "You were not made to fly, as both Diaval and I were. You were not born with any wings. If living without them for so many years was any indication of how it would be like to have them when you are not supposed to, it is not something I would suggest."

"Fairy Godmother, I would do anything to experience it for only once!" she cried, then pushed off of the grass and stood up, before Maleficent. She eyed her large wings once again when, as she stood up, she found herself bathing in the shade they offered. Maleficent was taller than she was, too, and she had to really look up if she wanted to look her in the eye. "Please…" she begged.

Maleficent frowned as she tried to see where Aurora's request was coming from. The freedom as she had described it was something she recognized very well, and she could imagine Aurora wanting to feel it at least once in life. With a sigh, she had to admit to herself once more that there was nothing she could deny the child. She opened her arms, as if for a hug, as her full red lips curled in a smile again. "Hold on," she instructed.

Initially, Aurora frowned, too, not entirely certain if this meant what she thought it meant, but then she felt Maleficent's arms encircle her and felt the woman push off from the earth, her large wings opening in less than a second, and then they were floating and tumbling through the air, gently at first, then faster and making all sorts of tumbles in mid-air. At first, she felt as if she was going to throw up from the tingling feelings inside her belly, how excited and utterly exhilarated she felt, but she knew she wouldn't. She was just fine, and she felt… amazing.

Aurora didn't know exactly how long her Fairy Godmother allowed her to experience the freedom of a bird before she landed on her feet again, putting Aurora safely back on earth once more. She had closed her eyes very soon after she had felt the grass between her bare toes disappear and opened them again just now to look at her godmother and return the smile that was offered to her. "That was… amazing! Please tell me that we can do it again, some time?"

"Perhaps," Maleficent responded, even though she knew she might as well have saved herself the trouble of responding to Aurora with any kind of doubt. There was nothing she could deny Aurora when she looked up at her with her innocent, blue eyes.

Giggling, Aurora fell back in the long grass, between the many wild flowers.

Perhaps Aurora should have been her daughter, Maleficent thought. Perhaps, she was her mother in more ways than anyone else had ever been, though.


End file.
